Ah! I've had this one on board an East Midlands Trains service in January this year - the RPI involved couldn't have been any nicer about it
After failing to get me to concede to the misconception that I was off route on my Rugeley TV - Rice Lane Off Peak ticket, he asked to see my railcard, turned it around and withdrew it on the basis that it wasn't signed. He also withdrew the ticket and stated he would be charging me for a new Anytime Single for £77.00 from St Pancras to the next stop, Leicester.
The RPI was on a hiding to nowhere because the ticket was valid and the railcard was signed - I did so when I got it 2.5 years before and although fading, perfectly readable in average lighting conditions. I was sitting in the tipup seat in the vestibule where there lighting was lower.
The thing is, when desperation reaches this level, the RPI is actually relinquishing their authority, rather than asserting it. At which point it's not difficult to turn the situation around, especially if you have the ability to emulate the mindset of people like that. I entertained his power trip for a good 30 minutes by being polite and explaining why my ticket was valid, but I got bored with this, so decided to play him at his own game. I did offer to pay for a new ticket and in return, he gave my railcard back and a pen to sign it with.
The RPI in question is the most patronising person I've ever met and has directly belittled me a number of times "I've been in the industry for 20 years, you for only one so I think I know a little bit more than you." He likes to bang on about how many years experience he has in the job - so I directly called him out on why he had ignored multiple briefs issued more recently than 20 years ago, ordering him and his colleages not to challenge me. I then outright accused him of being a liar, because despite having been in the job for 20 years and attending court during the course of his duties, he swore blind he didn't know any of the people I named from the prosecution department or HQ. He also made a reference to my physical appearance and claimed he was intimidated by me because of my size - despite me being seated in the tip up seat and him, almost 6ft tall, towering over me throughout the exchange. The guy was pulling out every trick in the book to try and wind me up - but contrary to his opinion, I wasn't born yesterday
. He probably didn't realise that I've already built up a reputation for being very polite with his colleagues, despite the conflictory nature of the exchanges. There is no mileage whatsoever in trying to provoke an aggressive response out of me.
I offered to pay for a new ticket, tendering several different methods of payment including 20p worth of coppers, £1.30 worth of 5ps and a £25 Rail Travel Voucher - but told him in no uncertain terms that if he did not process the Traveller's Cheque correctly, in front of me, I'd cancel it, ring up his accounting department to let them know why, inform the prosections department as he would likely submit a report and lodge a formal complaint against him to some of those people he claimed he's never heard of.
Guess what? He passed the ticket as valid and took down the details so the validity could be investigated. So after the best part of one hour, he didn't get a penny out of me and ended up doing what the brief instructed! It was unfortunate that it had to come to all that before he realised why insubordiation in favour of the glory grip is not a good idea.
In my eyes, there's doing a job, then there is being desperate to the point where all sense of judgement goes out of the droplight. From working as a ticket inspector and alongside them, it's usually the latter that have a much harder time at work. If a paying customer has a plastic photo railcard which isn't signed - use some common sense and get them to sign it! Why bully people into coughing up more money when it's completely unnecessary?
